I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to program controlled machines. In particular, this invention relates to program controlled machines wherein signals produced in response to execution of programs by a programmed control effect operation of machine devices.
II. Description of Related Art
It is known in the art of program controlled machines, including plastic processing machines, to provide control facilities for using pre-recorded data for set-up, that is, for preparation of the machine and related equipment for production, and advantageously data associated with particular products. Such set-up data, determined for a particular machine in the course of an actual set-up procedure, may be recorded on transportable media, in a data storage device incorporated in the machine control or in a remotely accessible data storage device to which the machine control may be connected, for example. In addition, it is known in the art of machine controls to provide facilities for monitoring machine conditions during operation. As is conventional, such facilities periodically update status signals representing, for example, the results produced by processing condition monitoring algorithms using then current values of signals representing conditions of devices and elements of the machinery and associated equipment. It is typical of such monitoring facilities to use the status signals to activate indicators for the attention of operators or others.
Known systems for storing, retrieving, and presenting set up data are generally limited to storing of numeric information used as xe2x80x9cset-point valuesxe2x80x9d, i.e., desired parameter values such as temperature, velocity, time and so forth used to control machine cycles of operation. It is also known to provide facilities for storage and presentation of text messages, advantageously displayable on a machine control display device, for reference during machine set-up. Known systems for storing, retrieving and presenting information used for machine set-up and the like do not include facilities for storing, retrieving and presenting audio and/or video information using so-called multi-media facilities available for personal computers. Likewise, known systems for monitoring machine conditions during operation do not include facilities for storing, retrieving, and presenting video or audio information in response to conditions of status signals.
It is an object of the present invention to provide facilities for storing, retrieving and presenting audio and/or video information in connection with machine operation.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a machine control having means for storing, retrieving and presenting video and/or audio information in connection with set-up of a machine and associated equipment for production.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a machine control having means for storing, retrieving and presenting video and/or audio information in response to occurrence of particular events in connection with control of a machine.
Further objects and advantages of the invention shall be made apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following description thereof.
In accordance with the aforesaid objects the present invention provides an electronic notepad function associated with set-up facilities of a machine control to store audio and video files for presentation of audio and video information during set-up of a machine and related equipment. Audio/video files may be retrieved from transportable media or from remotely connected devices, and, with appropriate devices connected, audio and/or video recordings can be created at the machine control and stored as audio/video files. The electronic notepad function enables a user to store files of audio and/or video information in association with a unique identifier, for example, a mold data file identifier. The stored files can be subsequently replayed during set-up of the machine and related equipment. An electronic counselor function enables a user to store files of audio and video information for automatic presentation in response to the occurrence of particular events as represented by predetermined conditions of status signals.